Bernard Appleton has been loading lorries for more than 50 years so he knows a thing or two about loading machinery.

Bernard established his company back in 1963, securing a contract loading lorries with grit in the hard winter of that year, and buying a new tractor with the proceeds. His company continues to serve the local Essex highways authorities to this day.

These days BG Appleton Contracts Ltd, based near Maldon, also screens soils, has a concrete crushing division and has developed an interest in green waste recycling.

It looks like Carmarthenshire-based contractor E&TL Jones is shifting the focus of its fleet towards Hyundai.

The Llandeilo company has replaced the larger excavators in its 22-strong fleet with five new Hyundai machines. These include three R140LC-9A and two R160LC-9A tracked excavators.

The deal was sealed by Molson Group, Hyundai’s largest UK dealer. Area sales manager Luke Mercer says: “We were able to prove that Hyundai excavators, coupled with Molson’s service were more than a match for the machines that E&TL Jones had been using.”

Clearly concerned about any accusations of facelessness, however joshingly delivered, the good folk in the Case publicity wing have been swift to prove me wrong.

They have supplied me with evidence that their tall man does indeed have face, complete with the response:

"We are delighted that our usually slick marketing operation is acknowledged... However, we can assure you that the vast majority of our customers are very happy (see more evidence in this picture) regardless of their shape or size. Perhaps we were a bit headless on this occasion due to the masses of interest being shown in our ProCare support programme."

This photo has been sent out by the publicity wing of Case Construction Equipment to accompany a news release about the company's new all-in-one heavy machine support programme, ProCare.

Companies the size of Case generally have systems in place to ensure that publicity stills like this go through strict corporate vetting procedures. They must ensure that they send out the right corporate message and that all the appropriate health & safety protocols are being adhered to.

Case has a slick marketing operation so this particularly image has probably been scientifically constructed to convey a very particular message. However, I just can't quite decide what it might be.

The B100C backhoe loader has been equipped with a support arm and chain cutter, mounted in place of the traditional backhoe, that offers a new ingenious, yet simple, method for cutting blocks of marble.

The BI00C was fitted with a chain cutter (CST 965) developed by Benetti Macchine SpA, who are based in Carrara and specialise in supplying marble-cutting machines.